Sinister Correspondence
by Sierra the Penguin
Summary: What would you do if you were suddenly thrust into an adventure you had no memory of ever starting? In a completely different dimension, Skipper must train to fight his ultimate enemy he can't even remember... and it isn't Blowhole.
1. Chapter 1

**Sierra: **ok I know it's been like forever since I've written one of these but I got bored

This idea has been in my head for months now and I finally pieced everything together so it makes more sense

So, uh. Enjoy?

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><p>Darkness encompassed all. A foul stench of charred metal hung in the air, making it hard to breathe. Crackling sounds of a soft fire were heard not too far away - now aware of all his senses, he awoke.<p>

Where was he?

He abruptly sat up, immediately regretting doing so as a sharp pain shot through his sides. Despite this - and the adrenaline coursing through his veins - he tried to take in what he was seeing.

Smashed in buttons and shattered gears surrounded the shoddy seat he was in. What once might've seemed like a functioning control box now looked as though it had been bashed in completely. As his hesitant gaze traveled upward, he observed a dashboard, littered with shards of glass. He was in the cockpit of a plane.

His heart thudded harder every second that went by. He closed his eyes, trying desperately to surface some memory of what had happened to lead up to this, but the more he dug in his memory for the answers, the foggier it'd get; the more he'd panic.

Alright, first things first. Clearly, he had been in a crash. Sucking in a deep breath, he opened his eyes once more; that's when he noticed another empty seat, to the left of him. Had another been flying this thing with him? Did he even remember how to fly it? Not that it mattered anymore.

Well, if someone else had been in the plane with him, they must be dead and gone now. He was on his own. Just…where exactly had he crashed? He lunged forward, deciding it was time to remove himself from the wreckage. That same pain shot through him again, but he didn't let it restrict him; he leapt out of a hole where a door once had been, only to land face-first in snow. The young man heaved himself to his feet, his eyes scanning his surroundings. Mounds of plain, icy white stretched as far as his weak eyes could see… a hauntingly bland landscape.

What great luck. He slumped up against what was left of the plane, huffing for breath, when a grim thought crossed his mind. Was there really anything he could do at this point? He had crashed in the middle of nowhere, and on top of that, he had been injured. A bleak death seemed like the only option, and it would be a long and unpleasant wait for the stinging cold to sink in and take over. Acknowledging this, he shut his eyes. Fate couldn't be too good to any one person, could it?

How many hours had passed until he heard the soft crunch of snow underfoot, he did not know; but boy, did his heart leap when he did. His eyes shot open, and above him, atop a snow mound a few feet away, stood a small penguin.

"Skipper?" came her voice; the name rung in his ears with a certain familiarity. She sounded almost surprised to see him there. He got to his feet as she slid down the hill to meet him.

"You are alive!" She grabbed a hold of his shoulders, shaking him with enthusiasm. He winced, and taking note of this, she stopped and cleared her throat.

"I was certain you had died in the crash. You must have only been in a comatose state, huh?" She shook her head, smiling. "It was foolish of me not to realize that."

Skipper stared at the girl, both relieved and… confused. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

His question brought an almost shocked look to her face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't remember ever seeing you before." He stared at her carefully. She was about the same height as he was; curvy, and her eyes were an abnormal, almost stunning dark blue. Suddenly, he put two and two together. "Were you in the plane with me?"

Right after the question came out of his mouth, he realized that his hypothesis was highly unlikely. There was not one scratch on this girl! She was perfectly unscathed; not even a speck of engine grease touched her glossy feathers. This made Skipper all the more puzzled when she nodded and answered, "Yes, I was."

So many questions buzzed through his head. Who was she? How did he know her? Where were they? And… who was _he_?

Sensing his confusion, the girl nudged him to reassure him, and bring him back to reality. "You must have lost your memory in the crash…" she trailed off, quite unsure of what to do herself.

"So who are you?" Skipper snapped, surprising even himself with his suddenly hostile tone. But was he to blame for his frustration?

"Name's Sierra. I am your guide."

"And where the hell are we?"

"Antarctica. Dimension ED2."

Skipper blinked, taken aback by her last two words. "Whoah, what? Dimension?"

Sierra nodded, pausing to think to herself. "This… is not good. Look, come with me. I'll explain more once we get to Blowhole's base."

Although that name arose a certain uneasiness within him, Skipper felt he had to go. It was either go with the nice penguin and gather his memories back, or stay here and freeze. To Skipper, the former option seemed much nicer, so he nodded to her.

"Wait…" he stopped.

"What is it?"

"I can barely walk."

"I will carry you. Get on my back."

Did this scrawny girl even have the physical strength to carry him? Though doubtful (and somewhat embarrassed), he did as he was told, and was almost startled when lifted into the air by her, who seemed to be unfazed by his weight. She started forward, trekking through the snow, as Skipper held on and pondered his clouded past.

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><p><strong>Sierra:<strong> Well... there's chapter one! Opinions? Should I continue? And I'm curious... who did YOU think it was going to be in the plane? :P

So leave a review I suppose..


	2. Chapter 2

**Sierra: **SHAZAM! Here's Chapter 2. I'm not quite sure if I like it or not...

Tell me what you think in a review?

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><p>The hike to the base was, to Skipper's surprise, not very lengthy at all. In fact, once Sierra had hauled him up the first snow mound, he was already able to see a small, drab-looking stone building sticking out of the ice not too far away. Within a few more minutes, they reached it, and the girl let Skipper ease off her back.<p>

"Thanks," he muttered to her, feeling slightly guilty for snapping at her earlier. He gazed upward, where two huge metal doors towered in front of the two. Sierra was already to the side of them, working with a keypad which had been installed there as a security system.

"Mhm," she nodded back, beginning to punch a few codes in the door lock. The huge, metal doors eventually slid open to reveal what looked to be the inside of an elevator. "Step in."

Skipper peered inside cautiously. "In there?"

"Yes. The base is underground. Step in."

Skipper did as he was told and waddled through the doors, followed by Sierra. They closed, there was a ding, and the two began their quiet descent.

"So… who's this Blowhole guy?" Skipper broke the silence, curious to know more about that name which stirred so many different emotions inside him.

"He's the founder of this whole mission," Sierra smiled, her oddly colored eyes glassed over as if she were thinking about something else.

"And what mission would that be?"

"Oh? The retrieval mission, of course," she responded vaguely. Skipper huffed, about to press her for more information when the soft ding was heard once again and the elevator doors parted to reveal a huge, dark stone room, clustered with computers and many other gadgets. Eyes wide with amazement, Skipper stepped through the doors, taking in the sights of the base.

"Sir, I've brought Skipper back - and he isn't dead," Sierra's voice echoed throughout the place as she called out to a peculiar looking fish near the front of the room. Wait, was that a dolphin… on a segway?

"He… isn't?" The surprise in the dolphin's voice was evident as he whipped around on his mechanical device to face the two. Skipper looked him over; he was threateningly tall, had sharp teeth (which made Skipper quite uneasy), and one robotic eye which emitted an odd _green_ glow. Immediately an alarm went off in Skipper's head.

"Yes, but I do believe he's injured." Sierra replied, and before Skipper knew it, she had grabbed his flipper and was dragging him up to the dolphin. He struggled, reluctant to go any further, but Sierra's amount of strength seemed to be immense.

Something was off.

"Well, better than him being dead, isn't it?" Blowhole cackled; his shrill laugh bounced off the walls and hurt Skipper's head. Dread began to wash over him like a tidal wave. He needed to leave.

"Maybe. But he doesn't remember a thing," Sierra replied.

Something wasn't right.

"Oh, my… that won't do. Take him to medical bay," the dolphin ordered; Sierra raised a flipper to her head in acknowledgement and then began dragging Skipper in a totally different direction.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah!" Skipper whispered urgently to her as they drew farther away from the dolphin, whom he was sure had to be evil. "Let me go! I don't feel safe. Hell, I'll go back to the plane if I have to; I just can't stay here!"

"Nonsense, Skipper," Sierra shook her head as they neared a dimly-lit corridor off to the side of the base. "Once you get your memories back, you'll be thinking otherwise."

"No!" Skipper fought harder against her grip. "That Blowhole, he… he's a bad guy!"

"You have the wrong dolphin, Skipper."

It was then the two stopped in front of a wooden door at the end of the corridor. Sierra reached out to turn the doorknob. "Maybe once you see your team members, you'll start to remember." The door flung open to reveal a small white room equipped with medical supplies, and off to the side, a tall penguin stood, waiting, a stethoscope draped around his shoulders and a sly smile on his lips.

"Blowhole told me to expect you," he said in a proud tone, beckoning Skipper in with a quick gesture. "I'm - "

But he needed to say no more; struck with sudden recognition, Skipper knew exactly who that egghead of a penguin was.

"Kowalski!" He cried in relief, prying his flipper from Sierra's grip and rushing over to him. Finally, one little light of reassurance in this terrible place!

Skipper heard the door shut behind them as he stopped in front of Kowalski, who chuckled at him. "It's good to see you, Skipper… I - oh!" Kowalski was cut off as Skipper eagerly wrapped his flippers around him in an embrace.

"Kowalski, man, have you any idea of what's going on?" Skipper's voice became desperate as he pulled away from his old comrade.

"Skipper, you have amnesia. I think I have a clearer idea of what's going on than you do."

"No, no, no! Blowhole, he's up to no good!"

"He's not the same Blowhole you used to know - "

"Don't try to tell me he's changed, Kowalski!" Skipper groaned.

Kowalski huffed in frustration. "No, Skipper. He and our Blowhole are two very different dolphins."

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><p><strong>Sierra: <strong>Hmm... just a note, don't get me mixed up with the Sierra from the story. I'm the AUTHOR! XD


	3. Chapter 3

**Sierra:** Aghgh... I feel like my chapters are too short... Ah well, I like them, so whatever.

Aaaanyway, here's Chapter 3! I'm writing these quicker than I expected I would, ehe

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><p>"What?" Skipper's jaw dropped in his perplexity. This did not make sense in his head; from what he could gather out of his remaining memories, there had always been only one, evil dolphin mastermind.<p>

Kowalski sighed. "Have a seat, Skipper." He patted a wooden chair to his right. "I'll try to explain this in the least complicated way. Now, what do you remember?"

Skipper took up the seat next to Kowalski, searching his mind for the answer to his question. He did have a rough idea as to his relations to everyone; after a long pause, he said,"You, Rico, and Private are all a part of my team. Blowhole is the enemy."

"I see. Is that all? You don't remember anything about the mission?"

Skipper shook his head, much to Kowalski's dismay. He hastily took up his stethoscope, bringing it to his old leader's chest and examining the man as he thought of where to start off. There was so much to fill him in on! Of course, Kowalski didn't mind explaining; explaining long, complicated situations and theories was one of the things he did best; but what did concern Kowalski was the fact that he did not know how Skipper would take it. The last thing this mission needed was a fearful, timid leader who was too shocked by the situation at hand to do anything to fix it.

"What happened in that plane?" Skipper asked boldly, pushing away Kowalski's stethoscope with his flipper. The eagerness in his voice reassured Kowalski; maybe he was ready to know.

"Well," Kowalski started, pulling the instrument back and settling into his chair, "all of us were in the plane, even Sierra. We were intended to land safely on a runway just at the back of Blowhole's base, but there was a glitch in the plane's wiring. The thing was going to go down."

Skipper nodded, and Kowalski continued. "You and Sierra, being the pilots, soon realized this, and instructed me, Rico, and Private to take the emergency parachutes and jump out of the plane before the impact. Not wanting to disobey your orders, the three of us did so, but failed to convince you to come with us. You insisted on staying with Sierra."

Skipper nodded once more, a grave look on his face as he took everything in. He could just vaguely see the story working in his memory; he saw scattered scenes of his worried team members, the plane diving closer and closer to the endless white landscape, Sierra's fierce blue eyes. Finally, he spoke. "Why was I in that plane?"

"Ah," Kowalski scratched the back of his head uneasily, "that's where it gets complicated. You see… we were returning from Dimension ED1." Noticing Skipper's mouth opened to ask another question, Kowalski guessed it and answered for him. "That's our home dimension, the one all your memories are from."

"Why were we leaving it?" Skipper asked, a look of unmistakable desire to learn more on his face.

Kowalski grabbed his leader's flipper in his own, examining it closely as he replied, "In short, Blowhole - our Blowhole - was up to no good. Think of it as retrieval mission; Sierra was at the head of it."

"So this is her dimension? Sierra's, I mean?"

"Yes." Kowalski turned, snatched a strip of bandage from a desk behind him, and then got hard at work tying up Skipper's arm. The crash had apparently injured him badly, but Kowalski was thankful it hadn't been worse; as long as Skipper was here and alive, it was ok. Skipper winced suddenly, and Kowalski looked up at him, an apologetic expression on his face. "Did I hurt you?"

"Nah, you're fine," Skipper replied through gritted teeth. He let out a deep breath, shaking his head. "Jeez, Sierra was lucky she didn't have any injuries," he muttered to himself.

Overhearing this, Kowalski chuckled. "Yeah, lucky." He rolled his eyes, finishing up with the last of Skipper's bandages. "Look's like you're all patched up. Hey, how about I take you to see Rico and Private? Boy, will they be relieved to lay their eyes on you."

Despite his thirst to ask more questions, Skipper smiled at his comrade. "I'd like that."

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><p><strong>Sierra:<strong> Oh, you have questions? You'll learn more as the story goes on!

Review for me?


	4. Chapter 4

**Sierra:** Hola guys! Here's Chapter 4, if anyone is reading. It took a little longer than I'd hoped for.

The fifth chapter should come faster - in fact, I'm working on it right now. I'm quite excited for it... :D

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><p>"Is it really you, Skippah?" Private's boyish voice wavered with overwhelming emotion, tears threatening to spill over his bright little eyes as he addressed his leader.<p>

"It is, Private," Skipper said, a smile tugging at his lips as the young private squeezed him tightly around the waist.

"Oh, Skippah, we thought you were dead!" Private wailed, Rico's gruff voice joining in with his cries.

"Easy now, he's still injured," Kowalski warned, eyeing the two cautiously although smiling as well. After leading Skipper to the other side of the base, the two had arrived at the training center, where Rico and Private had been working hard and trying to get their minds off their presumably dead leader. Now that the team had been reunited - and what a tearful reunion it had been - the mission no longer had to be postponed.

"It's alright, Kowalski," chucked Skipper, hugging Private back. "He's not hurting me."

The sudden creaking of the training room door drew the attention of the four, whose heads all turned to see a certain cerulean-eyed penguin approaching.

"I hope I am not interrupting anything," she said, although her voice did not show a hint of it, "but Skipper, Blowhole has requested to see you."

At this, Private released his grip on his leader.

"Remember, he's not the same," Kowalski whispered to Skipper as he made his way toward Sierra, who seemed to be getting impatient. Skipper nodded in acknowledgement, and then he and Sierra were out of the room, walking swiftly down the darkened corridors of the base once more.

"I see you have had a change in views on the man in charge," Sierra eyed him with the slightest playfulness. "I told you a meeting with your past comrades would spur your memory and change your mind, did I not?"

Skipper huffed, shaking his head. "You certainly did. Although, I'm still unclear on this whole situation." he said, scratching the back of his head. "Now why does Blowhole want to see me?"

"Ah, he just wants to run through the plan with you."

"Then what's the rush?"

At this, Sierra stopped in her tracks, blinking in surprise, before she brought her head back in a hearty laugh. "Oh, you are right! There is no rush, Skipper. My apologies. I am used to doing things quickly, that is all."

She flashed him a mischievous smile that made him feel a bit uneasy. Sierra was pretty; she seemed to have good intentions, and had been his light of hope back at the ruins of the plane, but there was something strange about her he could not place a flipper on. Some things about her did not seem to add up.

The two began walking again, this time with a slower pace. Skipper looked down at his feet awkwardly, debating if he should question the girl or not. Before he could come up with a decision, her voice broke through his thoughts.

"Here he is."

She had been addressing Blowhole. Looking up, Skipper saw that they were back in the room they had first entered, with its high, drab stone walls and clusters of computers set up in rows. The curious cyber-dolphin wheeled over to the two, a freakishly welcoming smile on his face.

"Ah, Skipper, good to see you've a more positive attitude toward me," he chuckled, gesturing the penguin over with a wave of his flipper. "Come with me. Sierra, you're free to go."

Skipper heard the waddling of Sierra's feet behind him as she took off, then stepped forward to meet Blowhole. The mammal towered over him, standing upright on his segway, and this made Skipper slightly uncomfortable. Although he trusted very much in Kowalski's words, Skipper still had his doubts; after all, none of those memories had come back to him yet. Would they even come back at all?

"Alright, Skipper," squeaked Blowhole, "Now that you're back with us, we should be able to put our plan in action."

Before Skipper could say a word, Blowhole paused on his segway, continuing, "The amount of recovery and training time you'll need should be enough for Kowalski and I to engineer new technology that will make for a more powerful, successful switch."

"Switch?"

"Switching you and your team members back to your own dimension, and switching the others back into this one."

Others? What did this guy mean by others? Was there some other team, hopelessly stuck in a strange and different dimension as well, just as they were?

"So," concluded Blowhole, "get to resting, then! We hope to be ready in two weeks. Think you're strong enough for that?" He asked with a teasing smile.

Skipper forced a smile back. "Yes… sir."

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><p><strong>Sierra:<strong> Shabam! Questions? Comments?

I promise it'll clear up next chapter! Until then... I want to hear your hypothesis...es.. about Sierra and the 'other team'!

(What the heck is the plural of hypothesis anyway?)


	5. Chapter 5

**Sierra:** Here it is! Chapter 5. I think this one might be my favorite yet. Now you don't have to be confused! :D

Just a note, I won't be updating until at least next weekend. My school's astronomy club will be taking a field trip to an observatory from Tuesday to Friday! I'll tell you guys how it goes when I'm back.

So for now, enjoy!

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><p>A week had passed since the accident. Skipper had been admitted to a small, solitary bunker of his own, and ordered to get rest and be ready to start training in a week's time. Today was the designated day to start that training, and Skipper waited eagerly for it, sitting on his bed. It seemed he had done nothing but stare at the blank walls of his room for the past seven days; of course, there were the occasional moments he attempted to remember even a bit of detail as to this curious 'mission', but most of those efforts were fruitless. There were, though, a few brief scenes in his head; he would sometimes see the faces of his teammates, but the majority of his remaining memory was only flashes of blinding lights, and images of Sierra's intense blue eyes.<p>

Finally, interrupting his bland thoughts, it came: the sound of Sierra's brisk footsteps echoing down the corridor. She flung the door open, not bothering to knock, although Skipper didn't mind this. He only wanted to begin his training as soon as possible.

She didn't need to say anything, for Skipper had already sprung to his feet and met her at the door. She smirked that him, and they began their fast-paced walk to the training center (which Skipper didn't mind, either.)

In under a minute, they had reached the slim glass doors which encased the exercise machines and glorious practice weapons used in regular training. Skipper's eyes glittered with anticipation as Sierra hastily unlocked the doors, typing in the same passcode she had used to enter the base.

"A little enthusiastic there, aren't you?" Sierra eyed him curiously as she watched him nearly topple over as he raced through the doors. She let out a chuckle.

"Hey, in my defense, I've been cooped up all week. Don't blame me for getting a little stir crazy," Skipper laughed back.

Although Skipper was ecstatic about being able to fight as he once had, his excitement only masked his doubtfulness. He intended to question Sierra further about the mission while she trained with him. As he watched her walk over to the weapons case and snatch up two wooden practice katanas, he began his questioning.

"What're you gonna train me for, if the mission is only supposed to be a 'switch'?" he asked. After giving up on gathering his memories, he had countlessly gone over the many questions he had in his head, waiting for the opportunity to ask them.

Sierra tossed him one of the katanas. "This is just to brush up on your skill. And," there was a pause as Skipper caught it in his flipper, "just in case anything goes wrong." She assumed a battle position.

Skipper mimicked her action. "Something goes wrong? Like what?"

"If something goes wrong in the switching process," she began, swinging at him mightily; he barely dodged her attack. "and we end up in a third dimension, face-to-face with the opposing team."

"Tell me more about this 'team'," Skipper pressed, going in for an attack himself. He could tell Sierra was going easy on him.

"You already know everything about them," Sierra ducked, "because you and your team, basically, _are_ them."

Skipper abruptly ceased attacking, the katana almost slipping from his grip. "What?"

"Oh, come on. You didn't piece it together by now? I thought you were smarter than that."

She placed the katana on its end, leaning on it as she shot him a teasing smile. Her bright eyes flashed at him, and he felt his face go hot with embarrassment.

"Guess not, huh?" she sighed as he remained silent. "There's an opposite Blowhole in this dimension. You never thought there'd be four opposite penguins as well?" Skipper's eyes widened in subtle realization. "That's right. And which dimension do you think they had been brought into?"

"My dimension," Skipper breathed, "ED1."

"Right. Which is why it was so urgent I got you outta there. Jeez, your Blowhole can certainly be devilish, can't he?"

Skipper looked up at Sierra, who was in her battle-ready position again. To his surprise, she charged at him; he stumbled backwards as he hustled out of the way.

"Then," he said, swinging his katana to retaliate, "is there an opposite of you, in my dimension?"

As if on cue, the attack he had made actually struck the girl. He gasped in astonishment, immediately feeling terrible.

"Fish and chips! I'm so sorry!" he cried, throwing his katana to the side and rushing to her.

Sierra rubbed her shoulder, where she had apparently been hit, as she chuckled almost maniacally at him. "No, you wouldn't find another of me," she said, moving her flipper aside. To Skipper's dismay, he had actually caused her to bleed a little - if that was even blood. A sickly blue liquid seeped out of the side of Sierra's neck, truly perplexing Skipper.

"I'm a special case."

Confused, Skipper took a step back. "What are you?"

"Artificial life form. Genetically engineered by Blowhole, for the specific purpose of retrieving you and your team from ED1." She stated matter-of-factly, brushing the 'blood' off herself.

Skipper twitched slightly, unsure whether to be grossed out or fascinated. One thing was for sure, though; he was shocked.

"You see, I can undergo space-folds. Dimension hopping, if you will. I like to call myself the 'Sylph of Space.'" She laughed once more. "Don't look at me like that, Skipper. I was hoping you'd remember for yourself. Now you're just making this situation awkward."

"S-sorry," Skipper scratched the back of his head. "I just… definitely wasn't expecting that."

Of course, it all made sense now that he put it together. Her immense amount of strength, how she hadn't been injured in the crash, and those enticing yet mutant-like eyes of hers.

"Let's continue training, shall we? We have a lot to cover if we want to be ready by next week."

And so the two did.

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><p><strong>Sierra:<strong> Remember to review! See you guys next week.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Uh wow guys. I haven't updated this since April. XD I'm really sorry about that, I just sort of lost motivation to write this. Anyway, since I don't like to leave things unfinished, looks like I'll be continuing it. If you're curious, it has one more chapter left to go!

Oh and that astronomy trip went awesomely if any of you were wondering. Which I doubt.

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><p>"Well, here we are. Switching day," announced the slippery aquatic mammal who perched himself on his segway in front of the four penguins. Each of them looked up to him, waiting to be prepped for their oncoming mission.<p>

To Skipper, it had come on all too fast. Two weeks was barely enough time to grasp the situation, and he still hadn't regained all his memories. It seemed just this morning he had crash landed in that plane and had been dragged here, to the "good", the second dimension's Blowhole's base. But Skipper knew very well he had to set a calm, stable example for his team, so he stood up tall and listened intently.

"In just a few minutes, you will all step onto this platform and the 'switching' will begin," Sierra, who had appeared at Blowhole's side, took over the explaining. She gestured to a gigantic pedestal-like object a few feet behind her; attached to it were various wires leading to a main control box, all of which looked as though it had come right out of some twisted science fiction movie Kowalski would watch.

"So we're not taking another plane?" Skipper found himself asking, taking a step forward.

Sierra shook her head. "I used the plane to retrieve you. This time, we've another four penguins on the other side who need to be brought back to this dimension, hence why it is called a switch." She explained.

"Is it… safe?" This time it was Private who spoke up, his timid voice barely audible.

"Oho!" Kowalski blurted out, "of course it's safe. Blowhole and I really put our backs into designing it and I'm eighty-five percent sure it has no flaw." He puffed out his chest proudly.

"What about the other fifteen percent?" Private asked, even quieter.

His question was ignored; Blowhole stepped in again, leaning down slightly to nudge his bright-eyed assistant. "Sierra will be coming with you to guide you through the process. And, if all goes well, she'll be staying in your dimension once you safely return."

Sierra beamed, a tinted blue on her cheeks that might have been the equivalent to blushing - but her expression suddenly turned serious when she seemed to remember the mission at hand.

"Should something go wrong," she made sure to add, "your skills have all been sharpened, and you should be able to fight if necessary. But you will _only_ do so in self-defense," she growled sternly, eyes scanning each of the penguins with a certain harshness. "If any one of your opposite selves is killed in the space-fold, chaos will ensue."

"Right," chirped Blowhole. "So with that, I think we're ready. To the platform, if you will."

Skipper watched as his comrades scattered and waddled over to it, though he was hesitant to do as they were. Instead he found his eyes wandering to Sierra, who was in the middle of receiving what looked like a wristwatch from Dr. Blowhole. Some sort of communication device? She caught his gaze and, after a few parting words with the dolphin, started towards Skipper.

"I can tell you are nervous," she stated before he could get a word in, a sly yet comforting smile barely gracing her features. "Don't be. You are strong, Skipper."

She then began walking toward the platform, where the others were, and hefted herself up onto it, Skipper not too far behind. The five stood there in silence as their favorite aquatic mammal wheeled over to the main controls and began to toy with the buttons. Skipper shifted from side to side uneasily, anticipating, but ceased doing so once he remembered he had a team to lead.

Blowhole turned to the group, his left flipper hovering over an untouched button, his other raised in a solemn salute. After what seemed like a lifetime and a half, he finally brought his flipper down and hit the button.

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><p><strong>AN:** A reminder to please leave a review! Those things really inspire, ya know!

And concerning the next chapter... well, I hope you like DEATH. Bwahaha!


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